5 Best WordPress Theme Builders and Website Builders Compared 2017

With the
slow death of Headway Themes, the WordPress website and theme builder
market lost one of its biggest participants. Don’t despair, though.
While Headway Themes might no longer be a viable option, there are still
some awesome WordPress website builders out there.

In fact, part of the reason behind Headway Themes’ death was an inability to keep up with the stellar competition.

So if you’re looking for a WordPress theme builder or website builder that isn’t named Headway, what are your options? In this post, I’ll dig into five of the best WordPress theme builders.

As
much as possible, I’ll try to focus on true theme builders, rather than
mega themes that just come with a ton of different demo content.

Note
– I’ll use theme builder and website builder interchangeably in this
post because, as far as I can tell, they mean the same thing to most
WordPress users.

5 Best WordPress Website and Theme Builders

Below,
I’ll dig into each builder in more detail. But if you’re interested in a
quick overview, here’s what you can expect to see in this post:

1. Beaver Themer

Overview

Beaver
Themer is a new’ish release from the team at Beaver Builder. It brings
the same stellar Beaver Builder interface to bear on your entire theme.
While you can do something similar with the Beaver Builder theme, Beaver
Themer is unique in that it functions as a plugin.

You can
essentially use it to build your headers, single post templates, archive
pages, and more…all using custom elements for dynamic data, as well as
all of the original elements from the Beaver Builder.

Note – Beaver Themer is an add-on for Beaver Builder, so you will need the original Beaver Builder plugin as well.

Pricing

2. Oxygen

Overview

Oxygen is a
new website builder from Soflyy, the team behind the popular WP All
Import plugin. Like Beaver Themer, Oxygen is technically a plugin, but
it actually lets you build out your entire WordPress theme using an
in-dashboard visual editor.

You can either build your theme from
scratch or use a variety of pre-designed components. Unlike some of the
other theme builders, Oxygen is geared a bit more towards developers
with a focus on easy in-dashboard code and CSS editing.

Pricing

3. Divi

Overview

Divi is an
incredibly popular theme and page builder combination that makes it
easy to quickly build out a variety of website designs.

I
hesitated to include Divi on this list because it’s not a “true” theme
builder in that you can build your header and archive pages with it. But
you can still accomplish that with a little elbow grease – and Divi’s
massive community makes it easy to find tips and tricks you can use to
create a fully customized site.

Divi Core Features

Flexible theme with integrated Divi Builder

Visual drag and drop editing

Tons of helpful elements including post grids

Pre-made templates to base your designs on

Huge support community and resources

Divi Pros

Divi Builder is one of the best page builders out there

Huge Elegant Themes community makes it easy to find help

With the exception of headers and footers, building complex layouts is super easy

Divi Cons

You can’t use the Divi Builder on your header, footer, or sidebar

Not a “true” theme builder like Beaver Themer or Oxygen

Pricing

Divi is
available as part of the $89 Elegant Themes membership. As part of your
membership, you also get access to all of Elegant Themes’ other themes
and plugins for use on unlimited sites.

4. Themify Flow

Overview

Themify
Flow is an open source and free WordPress theme builder from Themify
that promises “complete design from header to footer.” With it, you can
build as many templates as you want using a drag and drop visual editor,
as well as easy CSS styling.

Then, once you have some templates, you can assign them to posts, pages, custom post types, and more.

Unlike Beaver Themer and Oxygen, Themify Flow is a WordPress theme, rather than a plugin.

Themify Flow Core Features

Beginner friendly CSS style tool to build global styles

Drag and drop theme builder

Build your headers, footers, and sidebars

Build templates for single posts, pages, archives, and more.

Themify Flow Pros

Free and open source

Drag and drop interface is based on the Themify Builder

A true theme builder – you can easily customize every single part of your site

Beginner friendly when compared to something like Oxygen

Themify Flow Cons

Uses shortcodes over clean HTML, though does its best to avoid shortcode bloat.

Pricing

5. Layers

Overview

Like Divi,
Layers is a WordPress theme packaged with a drag and drop page builder
that makes it possible to build out your entire theme. While you won’t
have quite as much control over your design as you would with something
like Beaver Themer, Oxygen, or Themify Flow, it’s also easier for
beginners to use.

Layers does offer a free version, but you’ll need the Pro version for the most flexibility.

Layers Features

Build your theme using drag and drop widgets

Style widgets using a built-in design bar

No custom code required

Layers Pros

Layers’ widget system makes it easy for total beginners to build designs

The design bar helps you make style changes without needing to know CSS

Layers uses the WordPress Customizer for real-time previews

Layers Cons

While you have a good deal of control over your header, it’s not drag and drop like Beaver Themer or Themify Flow

In order to achieve user friendliness, you sacrifice some flexibility.

Pricing

Layers
does have a free version. But to get access to the full version, you’ll
need to buy Layers Pro for $59. There are also other premium extensions
that you can purchase to further extend its functionality.

Of
those three, I’d say Beaver Themer and Themify Flow are the most
beginner friendly, while Oxygen offers the most control and features for
those who already know at least some basic code.

Divi and Layers,
on the other hand, sit in a gray area between page builder and theme
builder. Neither are true theme builders like the first three, but they
both offer that functionality if you’re willing to get your hands dirty
when it comes to headers and footers.

All in all, my personal
favorite from this list is Beaver Themer – but I don’t think you’ll go
wrong with any of them – it just depends on your specific needs.

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